still falling in love
by not a straight trumpet
Summary: One year later, life still goes on. (another little epilogue to falling in love at a coffeeshop)


**a/n:** staying up later than i should and praying that the wifi doesn't cut out, just like old times

but yeah, i'm going to take this opportunity to say thank you so much to everyone who's supported me in the writing of falling in love at a coffee shop, it still means so much to me even a year later. so, withiut further ado, here's another sort-of epilogue

* * *

The rainy hills rolled by, comforting and consistent as Kumiko looked out the window. Reina was nestled in her lap, the rise and fall of her chest a familiar feeling. Kumiko's phone beeped, and she carefully pushed the sleeping girl away to reach it.

 _reminder:_

 _1 year since umbrella day!_

Kumiko chuckled softly, though apparently not softly enough - Reina stirred, violet eyes slowly blinking open as she began to wake up.

"Hrm? Kumiko?"

"Reina," Kumiko whispered, never tiring of how the other girl's name felt on her tongue. "It's been a year since we met, did you know that?"

"Now I do." Reina sat up, briefly looking out the window. "It's raining, too. That's . . . fitting, I suppose." Kumiko leaned down to kiss her, and Reina met her halfway while the rest of the train car rolled their eyes.

"I wonder how the others are doing," Kumiko murmured between kisses, hands in Reina's hair as she smiled.

* * *

" _Geez,_ is it really only September? How did ya even get here without freezing, ribbon girl?" Natsuki forged through the biting winds with nothing but a ratty flannel jacket wrapped around her body, freezing hands stiff and clenched around her bag.

"You're t-telling me!" Yuuko snapped through clattering teeth. "You walk here _every day?_ Without anyone taking you?"

"Yeah, well, not all of us have twenty cars. Hey, there's Euphonium's." The familiar coffeeshop's storefront stood out against the mobs of people shuffling to work in their heavy overcoats. "Thanks for coming, ribbon girl. It's a lonely trek out here, sometimes." Yuuko adjusted her ribbon with a huff.

"Don't mention it," she muttered. "Just . . . t-take this. I don't want you to die of pneumonia on my watch." Yuuko held out her scarf, creamy white and soft in Natsuki's hands.

"Thanks?" Yuuko let out another huff before tying the scarf around Natsuki's neck and stalking away, still shivering. Natsuki shrugged, turning the cold metal knob that led to the place she had spent the past several months working in, trying her best to forget.

"Hey, Natsuki!" Hazuki yelled, waving her arms frantically to signal the older girl. "Have you seen Midori? She hasn't responded to _any_ of my texts, what if she's hurt or something?"

"I'm sure that she's fine, small heterosexual," Natsuki sighed.

"How're you always so calm about everything?"

"I'm not." Hazuki absentmindedly tapped at the cash register, looking out the window where leaves flew by in little flurries, the scrawny trees battered by the winds.

"The fall's starting, huh?"

"Yeah." Natsuki abruptly put her hand on the counter, hoping that the cold surface would let her stop thinking about it for even a moment, hoping that the date would stop playing itself over and over again in her mind. It didn't.

"I'm here!" Midori called. Natsuki looked up. "Sorry I'm late, I needed you two to meet someone!" Hazuki practically shoved Natsuki out of the way to run and greet her.

"Is it a boyfriend?" she squealed. "Midori, do you have a boyfriend?" Midori smiled.

"Nope!"

"What is it, then?" Natsuki was about to interject when Midori opened her bag, revealing a bundle of white fur squirming uncomfortably in the small space. Hazuki's eyes widened.

"You brought Tuba-kun?!" she gasped. "Midori, what if the manager finds out? You'll be fired, and I'll be left with . . . uh . . ." Hazuki quietly trailed off as Natsuki raised an eyebrow behind her.

"I couldn't leave her behind at home, she was meowing and pawing at my leg and looking at me with those beautiful eyes! Look at her, Hazuki!" Tuba-kun lifted her head, letting out a _mrrp_ when she stretched out a paw.

"So, you're Luce's mom, huh?" Natsuki said, affectionately scratching the cat between the ears.

"Luce?" Midori echoed.

"Yeah. That's what I named the kitten that Kumiko brought home last year. She sleeps on my head sometimes, but overall she's a pretty good companion. Better than a lot of my failed dates, at least."

"Do you have any pictures of her?" Midori squeaked. Natsuki nodded, digging her phone out of her pocket while Hazuki opened the coffeeshop for business.

"She's gotten so big!" Midori snatched the phone from Natsuki's hands, and she could only weakly reach for it before the first customer trotted in and Natsuki was forced to leave the phone at the smaller barista's mercy.

"Ah, so this is the place, hmm?"

 _Crap._ Asuka Tanaka, smirking and strutting across the tiled floor as if she owned the place, flirtatiously waved to Natsuki. She bristled.

"You know, I've lived here for so long, and yet I've never had a reason to stop here. Funny, isn't it?"

"Hilarious," Natsuki retorted dryly. "Now, would ya like to buy a drink or not?"

"Natsuki!" Hazuki snapped. "Don't talk to customers like that! That's how Kumiko got fired, and then she ran away to be sad with her gal pal!"

"That's . . . that's not what happened at all," Natsuki muttered. "She did it because she wanted to . . . because she wanted to go with . . ."

"Oh, who's this?" Asuka jabbed a finger at Hazuki. "She's cute."

"She's pretty," Hazuki breathed. Natsuki put out a protective arm between the two.

"Stay away," she warned. Asuka bent down to meet Hazuki at eye level.

"How long have you been working here?"

"A f-few years, I guess?"

"Stay away," Natsuki repeated. "She's just a kid, Asuka. Don't think that I'd let you hurt her."

"She's only about a year younger than _you,"_ Asuka sighed, leaning against the counter as she briefly looked down at Hazuki's nametag. "Right? Am I right about that, erm, Hazuki?"

"Your apartment's really dirty!" Midori piped up.

"You're not helping," Natsuki growled through gritted teeth.

"Now, now, Natsuki, shouldn't you be _welcoming?_ I _am_ a customer, after all!" Asuka thrust out a shiny credit card with a flourish. "I'll have a grande black coffee to go, by the way."

"I'm on it," Natsuki muttered. Hazuki blinked.

"Are you two-"

"Dating?" Asuka supplied. "No, we tried that once-"

" _You_ tried that once, and then stomped away."

"Lovers' quarrel, hmm?"

"Ya had your chance, Asuka." Natsuki clenched the coffee cup in her hand, trying to maintain her usual easygoing façade and badly. "I'm not a toy that anyone can throw around and pick up when it suits 'em, alright? Neither are these two." Midori was still swiping through Natsuki's phone while Hazuki stared at the floor. "We're not all that different - if my life was some crappy indie movie, maybe they'd toss in some cinematic parallels between us, two sides of the same coin and all of that, but this is real life, and in real life you kinda have to _choose_ whether you're an asshole or not. It's not something laid out for ya in a script. I'm not exactly a shining example of the model citizen, but I try. I try, because there're people who I want to protect." Midori excitedly held the phone in her hands, shoving it in Hazuki's face. "Your drink's ready. Get out now, will ya?" Asuka curtly took the cup from Natsuki's hands, smirking like someone who knew more than they should.

"You're awfully wise, Natsuki, do you know that? It's not something I'd think suits you." Asuka took a sip of her coffee with a sigh. "I guess we're all wrong sometimes, though." With that, she walked away.

"Hey," Natsuki said, tapping Hazuki on the shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Well, I guess she can't really tell that I'm still waiting on someone, right? It's not like I have a bracelet or a ring or anything."

"Well, regardless of your bullcrap Prince Charming's constant failure to actually deliver ya from the dragon that is corporate labor, she's not the kind of person ya should get tangled up with."

"Hey! Natsuki! Hazuki! Look at this picture I found!" Midori pointed to the phone again.

"It's my phone, I'm pretty sure that I know what's on my own phone."

"Yeah, but I wasn't expecting to find this!" Natsuki tried to push back the feeling that rose deep in her chest, the dullness that spread like vines entwining themselves around her bones and through her heart. "That's you and Kumiko, right? Exactly a year ago from today!" Natsuki looked at the phone again, the image of herself and Kumiko goofily grinning staring right back at her. "Isn't that a strange coincidence?"

"Y-yeah," Natsuki muttered. "It is."

 _September 17th, 2015_

 _"Hey! Sleepyhead! Kumiko, you're gonna be late for work!" Natsuki lightly shook her roommate in her bed, standing over her as the clock on the wall ticked and ticked. "I can't leech off of my parents forever, y'know." Kumiko blinked her eyes open, nearly rolling out of the bed._

 _"W-what time is it?"_

 _"It's_ time _for ya to get to work, dummy. That coffee isn't gonna make itself."_

 _"Great. Work. Wonderful. Isn't it supposed to rain today?"_

 _"Yeah, but I'm sure that you'll make it home fine."_

 _"I'm going to be bored without anyone to talk to." Natsuki fumbled in the dark for a light switch before turning to grab her phone._

 _"Here. I figured that it'd be a good time for a new lockscreen, anyway, so how about we use this_ lovely day _to take one?"_

 _"The sun hasn't even risen yet, Natsuki. And, uh, what about how I'm going to be late for work?"_

 _"You have some time. The light of the phone's flash might wake ya up enough to get your butt to work before those two coworkers of yours realize that they're one barista short."_

 _"Fine." Natsuki grinned, holding up the phone and snapping the picture before Kumiko could even blink._

 _"Man, we look like crap. Now, you'd better be on your way. It'd suck if you missed an_ important day _of coffee-making."_

 _"Natsuki, I've been working there for_ months _and nothing important has happened at all."_

 _"Not_ yet, _ya nerd. And they say_ I'm _the pessimistic one."_

 _"Who says that?"_

 _"Me. I say that."_

 _"Well, anyway, I guess I should get going, huh?"_

 _"Yeah. See ya, Kumiko." Natsuki looked down at the phone, the brightly lit picture, and she smiled. "Have a great day, alright?"_

 _"I'll try."_

"Natsuki? Hey, hey, Natsuki, are you alright?" Hazuki waved a hand in front of her face. "You've been out of it for like five minutes, the customers are starting to get worried!" Natsuki nodded, a bit quicker than one would do naturally, and she caught a glimpse of a woman standing in the back of the coffeeshop who resembled someone she had been trying (trying so hard, failing so badly) to forget. "I t-think I'm just gonna go on break now, though, okay?"

"Don't hurt yourself!" Midori squeaked as Natsuki took the phone back from her. Tuba-kun lifted her head for a moment to let out a quiet _mrrow_ before retreating back into the coziness of the bag.

* * *

"Hey, Reina, do you know where we're actually going?" It was still raining, but Reina was now fully awake and leaned against Kumiko with their hands firmly entwined. It was a routine, of sorts - get on a train, let it take them wherever it wanted, and then leave it when something interesting showed up. It was a journey, a sort of self-discovery that came riddled with tiny motels and tourist traps, always with Reina by her side. "We've, uh, kinda been traveling for a while. Don't you wonder where we're going?"

"I have enough money in my account to last us quite a while, Kumiko. I can check the map and see where we are, if you want, but I'd be content with remaining on this train for a while longer." As if a telepathic signal passed between them, both girls looked up to the map on the wall across from them. Kumiko had gotten to know Reina's actions rather well, over the past year, the way she ran her hands over the smooth leather of her trumpet case when she was nervous or tilted her head to the side when she was confused. From the look in her eyes at the moment, it seemed as if she was surprised by something, and Kumiko followed her gaze before stifling a gasp of her own.

* * *

Natsuki had never met the Euphonium's manager. She knew that Kumiko had, once, and Hazuki and Midori seemed to be afraid of them, but she had never met the person in the flesh. Despite that, she was very grateful to the manager (whoever they might be) for putting the lounge seat in a secluded corner of the coffeeshop. It was soft, softer than she would've expected, and she wanted to sink into it and let it swallow her whole, if only to stop her from staring at the stranger who still stood in line, the picture of Kumiko on her phone, the thoughts that threatened to eat her from the inside.

 _God, I'm starting to sound like a pretentious butt again. I need to stop watching those late-night teen movie marathons._

"Hey! Hey, you!" Natsuki rolled over to face whoever had called for her.

"I'm on break," she muttered, using her arms as a pillow when she propped herself up. "Go talk to the other two if you want coffee."

"That's not why I went to you," the speaker - a tall girl around her age, with a quiet-seeming girl hanging off of her arm, stood in front of her with a kind smile. "You were at that concert on the mountain last year, right? Gay Detergent and the Crooked Effect?" Natsuki blinked.

"Uh, yeah. You know about them?" The quiet girl snorted.

"Of course we do!" the tall girl said. "I recognized you because of that giant teddy bear you were carrying."

"Yeah, that. I still have it lying around in my apartment, actually. My cat likes it a lot." The quiet girl made a series of rapid gestures, and Natsuki could see a glinting ring on her finger matching the one belonging to the tall girl.

"Anyway, we wanted to see if your friend was here - the shy one, looked like she had never been to a punk concert before but actually ended up liking it a lot?"

"Kumiko?"

"Yeah, that was her name! I never got her number, but she seemed pretty cool. Figured that we'd tell her about some stuff before moving away." The quiet girl nodded.

"Ya missed her by about nine months," Natsuki said bluntly. "She's been gone with her girlfriend on trains and in taxis and stuff. I haven't seen her in person since December."

"Oh." The tall girl looked down at the floor. "Well, if you see her, say that the power couple's on their way to bigger and better things, and that we both wish her the best of luck!" The two girls walked away, and Natsuki was once again left to wonder how things had ended up like this, hoping with a strange irrationality in her heart that something would change soon, that she'd be given the tiniest push she needed so that she could manage.

 _That's all I really need, anyway,_ she thought, looking up at the glowing lights of the ceiling. _I just need to manage._ Hazuki waved to her, while Midori lifted Tuba-kun's fluffy paw and made the cat wave to her as well. _Maybe I'm already doing okay, in any case. I guess I just need one more tiny, little thing to happen, one more thing to tell to Luce at the end of the day, and I'll be alright._

* * *

The rain pattering against the train's glass windows served as a fitting backdrop while Kumiko and Reina sat in front of the map, mouths agape.

"That's only twenty minutes from where . . ." Reina didn't even finish her sentence. Kumiko leaned on her, still processing the words on the map.

"S-should we get off when it stops there?"

"I don't see why not. We've been on these trains for a long time, nothing says that we can't go back to this life of traveling after visiting some people, and I still have this umbrella if it rains." Kumiko let out a snort. "What?"

"I just didn't, uh, really think that you had kept it. I'm usually the sentimental one when it comes to that stuff."

"It's practical," Reina retorted, pushing a lock of her hair out of the way as she moved to kiss Kumiko again.

"You're a dork."

"I suppose you could say that." The kiss was softer than many, more brief and yet Kumiko still felt as if her heart was becoming too big to fit in her chest, exploding with everything she felt. It was one of many moments that made her realize this life that she had, this happy middle, was something she never would have expected a year ago. "In any case, we should probably grab our things."

"Y-yeah." Reina stood up, her violet eyes shining with emotion. Kumiko followed suit. "I still can't believe it," she murmured.

"What about it?"

"After all this time . . . we're going home, Reina."


End file.
